The Tide slipped to 2-3 on the season with an 8-0 defeat to the Warriors and Aaron Lidgett.
Lidgett threw a complete game, three-hit shutout while racking up 11 strikeouts along the way to victory lane.
Curwensville starter Garrett LaBorde and Lidgett were both cruising along through three innings, blanking their respective opponents until the top of the fourth inning when the Warriors took a 2-0 lead. A lead that would grow much bigger in the top half of the fifth.
It was an inning to forget for the Golden Tide as they committed all four of their errors while surrendering a total of six more runs to West Branch.
Warrior third baseman Chad Speigle had the big blow in the fifth with a three run home run that all but shut the door on the Tide.
Senior shortstop, Shane Hoover, had two of the three hits on the day for the Golden Tide, prompting Curwensville head coach Denny Johns to say afterwards, “It is very obvious that we continue to struggle at the plate as was the case today. Lidgett (Aaron), of course, had a lot to do with that as he was extremely tough out there this afternoon.”
Speigel also had a double for the Warriors while Lidgett and Ronnie Gurbal each had two singles to help with the West Branch offense.
Tide senior Shae Best came on in relief of LaBorde in the fifth inning and held the Warriors hitless over the final 2 and 1/3 innings.
Johns knew that the fifth inning doomed his squad, “The fifth inning was a catastrophe for us. You can’t give a good team like West Branch that many outs in one inning and expect to come out on top.”
The Golden Tide junior varsity came away with a 7-6 win over the young Warriors in the first game.
Curwensville will be at Glendale on Monday to face the Vikings with a starting time of 4:30 pm.
WEST BRANCH – 8
Curtis Baugh 2b 3100, Todd Rees c 3110, Dylan Corl ss 3101, Chad Speigle 3b 3223, Aaron Lidgett p 2220, Ronnie Gurbal 1b 4121, Jason Sanker cf 4002, Ben Hubler 4001, Parker Emigh rf 2000, TOTALS – 28 8 7 8.
CURWENSVILLE – 0
Kyle Bloom c 3000, Hunter McCracken 2b 3000, Shane Hoover ss 3020, Boone McGary 1b 3010, Garrett Laborde p 1000, Brad Coudriet ph 1000, Alec Starr ph 1000, Jesse Zorger 3b 2000, Jason Bloom 3b 1000, Shae Best cf/p 2000, Bob Adams ph 0000, Jordan Russell lf 2000, Shelby McGarry rf 2000,TOTALS – 24 0 3 0.
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
WEST BRANCH 000 260 0 8 7 0
CURWENSVILLE 000 000 0 0 3 4
ERRORS – Zorger 2, McGary, LaBorde. LOB – WEST BRANCH – 7 CURWENSVILLE – 5. 2B – Speigle HR – Speigle (5th, 3 run). SB – Corl, Lidgett. HBP – Russell (by Lidgett)
PITCHING
WEST BRANCH
Lidgett 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, 1 HB
CURWENSVILLE
LaBorde 4 2/3 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 5 K
Best 2 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
WP – Lidgett LP – Laborde (2-2)